Mary has just been diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Feeling overwhelmed, her family wants more information about treatment options. She knows she will have surgery, followed by chemotherapy and her doctor mentioned some specific types of chemotherapy. Where to begin?

STEP 1 The Basics
A great place to begin is with a comprehensive overview from the American Cancer Society (ACS). On their site, a search for “ovarian cancer” brings readers to their Ovary Cancer Resource Center. The ACS provides enough information to be comprehensive without overwhelming the reader. A smaller search box allows readers to choose from more specific topics, such as treating ovarian cancer, but this area did not mention the type of chemotherapy by name.

STEP 2 The Big Picture
A good second stop is to go to CancerNet, the patient information source sponsored by the National Cancer Institute. This site offers comprehensive overviews of all types of cancer—including rare types—as well as description of treatments and even specific drugs used. An overview of the site for first-time visitors is available at cancer.netnci.nih.gov/firsttime.html. Links to the institute’s PDQ (Physician Data Query) database provide access to cancer summaries with information on prevention, risk factors, early detection and treatment. There are also links to support groups, cancer medical literature and clinical trials.

Another consumer-friendly government health source is MEDLINEplus organized by the National Library of Medicine. Choose a topic alphabetically by its first letter (in this case O) or by sliding through the index window to cancer, then following the links to information on ovarian cancer.

You may also want to try a search engine. But at altavista.com, a search for “ovarian cancer” led to 46,472 matching Web pages! The search led to many great resources, including the National Ovarian Cancer Coalition, the National Ovarian Cancer Association and CancerCare, a support agency for cancer patients. The best sites usually appear on the first 10 pages or so of Web matches. These sites were all bookmarked for later visits.

STEP 3 Focus
Still using AltaVista, Mary’s search was narrowed by searching for the phrase “treating ovarian cancer.” Only 149 matches showed up. One article described drugs used in chemotherapy, but it was written in 1998 (found only after scrolling to the end of the article). In the fast-paced world of cancer treatments, that’s too old. And stay away from sites that offer quick fixes or miracle cures.

Remember to consider synonyms and variant endings (Example: therapy or treatment, and treat, treating, treatment, treatments)

STEP 4 Exact match
Finally, another search was conducted using the specific name of the chemotherapy drug. Although this type of search will turn up more technical sites, that's okay after you've gained a basic understanding of the disease and its treatment.

Searching is time-consuming, so quickly rule out links that aren’t what you want. It is likely there WILL be information that fits your exact needs, so don’t feel compelled to read everything. Also, if you think you may want to return to a site, bookmark it in your browser. It’s often easier to delete a bookmark later than to find a particular site again.

Placing a bookmark is simple. Simply click on Bookmark in your Netscape browser (or Favorites in Internet Explorer) to keep a copy of the site’s address on your computer. To find a site you’ve bookmarked, go to Bookmarks (Netscape) or Favorites (IE).